Cooking apparatus



March 17, 1970 E. H. FILIPAK I 3,500,816

cooxme APPARATUS Filed Aug. 23, 1968 FIG.I.

INVENTOR Edmund H. Filipok WX .iw

ATTORNEY United States Patent Oifice 3,500,8 1 Patented Mar. 1 7, 1 970 3,500,816 COOKING APPARATUS Edmund H. Filipak, Lexington, Ohio, assignor t0 Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Aug. 23, 1968, Ser. No. 754,810 Int. Cl. F24c 15/10 US. Cl. 126211 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A range cooking top or range platform provided with an electric outlet mounted on the underside of a fiat closure member which is movable between a horizontal position where it covers an opening in the top or platform with the outlet hidden therebelow and a vertical position where the outlet is accessible above the top or platform. An auxiliary closure element disposed at right angles to the flat closure member closes the opening from beneath when the closure member is in the vertical position with the outlet accessible.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Where ranges are equipped with a back-splasher extending upwardly at the rear of the cooking top, the back-splasher provides an ideal location for an electric outlet for plugging in portable appliances, for example electric mixer, coffeemaker, toaster, etc.

But where the range cooking top has no back-splasher or where it is actually a platform mounted in an opening in a counter top, no suitable vertical structure is available for the mounting of an electrical outlet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves this problem by providing, in the horizontal cooking top of the range or platform, an opening to the space therebelow. A flat plate, hinged at the rear edge of the opening, normally lies flat over the opening to cover it. An electrical outlet box is mounted on the underside of the fiat plate where it is normally concealed. By pivoting the plate upwardly through a 90 arc to a vertical position, the outlet is brought up to a readily accessible location above the cooking top.

When the plate is in its vertical position, with the outlet exposed, a second plate, fixed at right angles to the first plate, closes the opening in the cooking top from beneath.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a range platform incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view, taken along the line IIII of FIG. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows and showing the electrical outlet in an accessible position;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view similar to FIG. 2 except that the electrical outlet is in a stored position beneath the cooking top; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view, taken along the line IV-IV of FIG. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown a range platform 10 adapted to be mounted horizontally in an opening in a counter top or the like, the platform having a plurality of heating elements 11 which may be heated by electricity or by gas. The supply and quantity of heating medium for each burner 11 may be controlled by an appropriate control knob 13, there being one control knob for each of the burners 11. Preferably, these controls 13 are mounted on a control panel 14 carried by the platform 10.

Adjacent the right rear corner of the platform there is provided an opening 16 in the material of the platform which opening is normally closed by a fiat closure member 17, best shown in FIG. 3. As therein illustrated, this closure member is hinged at its rear edge to the rear edge of the opening v16, by any suitable hinge means 18 so that the closure member 17 may be moved between the horizontal position of FIG. 3 where it closes the opening 16 and the vertical position shown in FIG. 2. Secured to the under surface of the closure member 17 is an outlet box 18, which, when the plate 17 is in its vertical position (FIG. 2), presents a pair of electrical outlets 19 facing the front of the platform (FIG. 4). These electrical outlets 19 are connected to a source of electrical energy by the usual electrical wiring 21, shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

When the closure member 17 and its associated electrical outlet box 18 are in the operable or accessible position of FIG. 2, the opening 16 is closed from beneath by an auxiliary closure element 23 which is shown as being secured to the outlet box 18. However, it will be apparent that this auxiliary closure element 23 could be a right angle extension of the closure member 17.

It will be apparent from consideration of FIG. 3 that when the outlet box 18 is in its retracted or concealed position with the closure member 17 in a horizontal position, the surface of the range platform is free for the setting of cooking utensils or dishes or the like thereon. When it is desired to plug-in an electrical appliance it is only necessary to swing the closure member 17 to its vertical position, whereupon the electrical outlets 19 are disposed in forwardly facing position for ready insertion of the conventional plug of the electrical appliance thereinto. At the same time that the electrical outlets are in the readily accessible position of FIG. 2, the opening 16 in the range platform 10 is closed from below by the auxiliary closure element 23.

Since numerous changes may be made in the abovedescribed apparatus and difierent embodiments of the invention may be made without departing from the spirit thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim as my invention:

1. A range cooking top adapted to be disposed generally horizontally, at least one cooking unit associated with said top, said top having an opening therethrough, a substantially flat closure member for said opening, means mounting said closure member for movement relative to said cooking top between a horizontal position where it covers said opening and a vertical position where it extends upwardly from said cooking top, and an electrical outlet box mounted on the surface of said closure member which is downwardly facing when said closure member is in said horizontal position, whereby when said closure member is in its vertical position said outlet box is in a readily accessible position above said cooking top and when said closure member is in its horizontal position said outlet box is in a stored position below said cooking top and concealed by said closure member.

2. Structure as specified in claim 1, wherein the closure mounting means pivotally mounts the closure member adjacent the rear edge of the cooking top opening.

3. Structure as specified in claim 1, wherein an auxiliary closure element is fixedly associated with said closure member, said auxiliary closure element lying in a plane disposed substantially at a right angle to the plane of said closure member, whereby When said closure mem- References Cited her is in its vertical position with said outlet box readily accessible said auxiliary closure element will underlie and UNITED STATES PATENTS Close the cooking n v 2,808,497 10/1957 Kesling et a1. 12642 X 4. Structure as specified in claim 3, wherein the closure 5 2,897,812 8 1959 Albrecht mounting means pivotally mounts the closure member adjacent the rear edge of the cooking top opening. CHARLES J, MYHRE, Primary Examiner 

